In Georgia, people can be held responsible for false imprisonment if they get police to arrest someone who did nothing wrong.

A former DeKalb County commissioner learned that costly lesson Monday in federal appeals court when judges sided with two women who are seeking $100,000 in damages and legal costs.

The story almost writes itself.

“This appeal is about a man who lost his wallet and, shortly after, his solvency. We begin with the wallet. We then turn to his bankruptcy,” starts the opinion of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. It continues: “On July 12, 2012, Stanley Watson, a DeKalb County commissioner, entered the Tanqueray Lounge in Decatur, Georgia, and saw Shenekka Bradsher sitting at the bar.”

Things went downhill quickly.

He bought her drinks and asked her to go home with h

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